Projects/JPs Projects/Fiber Balloons

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Fiber Balloons

Big balloon2022-09-07 094550.jpg

Description

Fiber optic balloons! Two sizes! Big and small! Using a WS2812 LED ring with either 8x or 16x LEDs, and side glow fiber optic cables to light up the balloons!

Special Thanks

Thank you @maketvee for being such an awesome friend, and collaborating with me to create these awesome balloons!

Files

  • FiberBalloon 3mm Channels D1
  • FiberBalloon 3mm Channels FlatTop

Materials

Large Balloon

~650.24cm / 22 feet of 3mm sideglow fiber optic is required to make the large balloon

Medium Balloon

~203.2cm / 80 inches of 3mm sideglow fiber optic is required to make the medium balloon

Construction

1. Print balloon, and basket.

  • 0.2 or 0.175 Layer Height Recommended
  • PETG or PLA can be printed without supports, but slowly!
  • Turn off the bed after the first 5-10 layers
  • If printing with PETG consider experimenting with and without the fan
  • the flat top one prints great in vase mode @ 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2mm layer height
  • i drop the print speed down to 0.6
  • hotend temp - 195, bed temp 55 for the first 10 layers, then drop it to 45 or 0 for the rest of the print

2. Remove Supports, cleanup with a wire brush!

3. Attach steel cable with ferrules.

4. Drill out basket if necessary.


5. Solder leads to Arduino.

6. Install Arduino in balloon.

7. Solder LED Ring, Test!

8. Install fiber optic.

SpecialSplit-balloons

SpecialSplit-balloon1

  • 713 layers total
  • 155 layers in red
  • 155 -switch to sparkly = 10 layers in sparkly
  • 165 -switch to black = 125 layers black
  • 290- 50 layers in merlot
  • 340 -back to black = 125 layers in black
  • 465-475 -sparkly
  • 475 -back to merlot

SpecialSplit-Basket #1

  • Layers total 191
  • First cutover @ 36
  • Second cutover @ 85
  • Third cutover @ 105
  • Fourth cutover @ 156

SpecialSplit-Basket #2

  • 191 layers total
  • First cutover @ 37.5 BLACK
  • Second cutover @ 80 MARROON
  • Third 90-95 sparkle red
  • Fourth cutover @ 106
  • Fifth cutover @ 159

Cura

#1

  • Balloon2020 @ 0.16mm Layer Height = 4 hours, 45 minutes
  • Change to BomE @ 40%
  • Change back to black @ 65%

Basket Test Split 1

@ 0.16mm Layer Height = 40 minutes Switch to BomE @ 25% Back to black at 70%

#2

  • Balloon2020 @ 0.16mm Layer Height = 4 hours, 45 minutes
  • Change to Black @ 30%
  • Change back to BomE @ 65%

Basket Test Split 2

  • @ 0.16mm Layer Height = 40 minutes
  • Switch to Black @ 25%
  • Back to BomE at 68%

Basket Test Split 3

  • @ 0.16mm Layer Height = 40 minutes
  • Switch to Nebula @ 25%
  • Back to BomE at 80%

Balloon Test Split 3

  • Balloon2020 @ 0.16mm Layer Height = 4 hours, 45 minutes
  • Change to Nebula @ 32%
  • Change back to BomE @ 64%

Balloon Test Split 4

  • Balloon2020 @ 0.16mm Layer Height = 4 hours, 45 minutes
  • Change to Nebula @ 32%
  • Change back to BomE @ 64%

Gallery

Gallery1

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Gallery6